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WORLD CUP FICTURES - POOL A

Wales v Uruguay - Sep 20, Millennium Stadium

England v Wales - Sep 26, Twickenham

Wales v Fiji - Oct 1, Millennium Stadium

Australia v Wales - Oct 10, Twickenham

Between them Hibbard, Hook and Phillips have 218 Test caps along with a role in Grand Slams and Six Nations titles. Phillips, in particular, has been a mainstay of Gatland’s Wales set-up since he took charge at the start of 2008 but despite being stuck on 99 caps — five of those for the Lions — the 32-year-old scrum-half has not earned a reprieve founded on sentiment.

There are echoes of the decision taken by Gatland when he was head coach of the Lions in 2013 and chose to omit Irish icon Brian O’Driscoll from the match-day 23 for the decisive final Test in Sydney.

George North gets the better of Hook during Wales training at Colwyn Bay on Tuesday

The decision caused uproar but the Kiwi was utterly vindicated as his men crushed the Wallabies 41-16 to seal series glory.

Hibbard, Hook and Phillips all started last Saturday as Wales lost their opening World Cup warm-up match to Ireland at the Millennium Stadium. While hooker Hibbard, 31, scored a close-range try and showed flashes of his warrior credentials with one trademark thunderous tackle, the Welsh line-out was a mess.

At half-back, Phillips and Hook were ponderous and unable to give a struggling home team direction or impetus. Hook, 30, threw one wildly hopeful pass to Eli Walker which led to a turnover and an Irish try and was emphatically upstaged by Gareth Anscombe’s debut off the bench.

The playmaker has been a peripheral figure for Wales since the last World Cup and sadly, he is destined to go down as a great but unfulfilled talent in the international game.

Sam Warburton looks on as Wales prepare for the Rugby World Cup which kicks off on September 18

Scrum half Rhys Webb throws the ball into the air as the Wales squad gather on Tuesday

He and Hibbard will return to Gloucester while Phillips, the oldest of the trio at 32, faces the prospect of fighting for opportunities among a host of superstars at Racing Metro in Paris.

Now that Rhys Webb is firmly entrenched as Wales’s No 1 scrum-half, with Lloyd Williams and Gareth Davies filling the understudy places, the landmark of a century of Test caps will surely elude Phillips. He may opt to retire soon.

However, mindful that injuries could alter his plans, Gatland was keen to emphasise that the released men may yet have a World Cup role to play, saying: ‘It’s important to stress that the door is not closed. We name our final World Cup squad on August 31 and a lot can happen between now and then.

‘It’s been a difficult task reducing the squad. All the players involved over the past eight weeks have put a huge amount of effort in. The intensity and dedication from the players out in Switzerland and Qatar has been really impressive.

‘But as we continue to move into our rugby-focused phase of training, it’s important we reduce the squad number.’